The peak body for Australian aid and humanitarian charities is calling on the country's main political parties to ensure a predictable and accountable commitment to foreign aid.

More than $870 million dollars in foreign aid was cut in the last budget update, with some money diverted to pay for Australia's asylum seeker deal with Papua New Guinea.

The Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) is asking the major parties to keep their existing commitments to Australia's international aid program.

ACFID Executive Director Marc Purcell told Radio Australia's Pacific Beat there's evidence to show that the Australian public supports an ongoing commitment to international aid.

"We've even been able to track that down right to an electorate level (with) individual candidates, such as Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott," Mr Purcell said.

"There's really robust support in their own electorates for international aid work carried out by NGOs."

Mr Purcell says foreign aid - which accounts for 1.4 per cent of the Federal budget - needs to be put in perspective.

"Disproportionately, it's suffered a lot of cuts and deferrals over the last couple of years and we want the two major parties to keep their existing commitments and to keep a degree of predictability," he said.

"The worst thing you can do with an aid program is start chopping and shifting and changing.

As we've seen in Papua New Guinea recently in relation to asylum seekers, it can really undermine the poverty alleviation focus of Australia's aid efforts."

Mr Purcell says the government's recent decision to provide extra aid to Papua New Guinea as an incentive to take asylum seekers is a misuse of Australian taxpayers' money.

"In PNG, we've seen an effective doubling of aid as a result of the opening up of the Manus Detention Centre," he said.

"That actually is very poor aid. It's poor use of taxpayers' money for a variety of reasons."

Mr Purcell says that whoever wins the election must continue to make efforts in funding foreign aid.

"Twenty of our neighbouring countries in the Africa-Asia-Pacific region are actually fragile states," he said.

"They need aid to help them deliver good government services... it's an investment in our region and in Australia's future."

ACFID's proposal to the government coincides with World Humanitarian Day, celebrated annually on August 19.

The council represents more than 120 Australian aid and humanitarian charities.